This description relates to location signaling with respect to an autonomous vehicle (sometimes abbreviated as an AV) and a rider.
As shown in FIG. 1, in a common method for a rider of a taxicab or a ride-sharing vehicle to hail and then enter the vehicle, the rider posts 10 a ride request by interacting with a mobile app. The ride request includes information about a general goal location for the pick-up desired by the rider, which is often specified imprecisely or inaccurately. The ride request is processed by the mobile app and then forwarded 12 through the cellular telephone network or Internet to a central server where it is further processed (including potentially geocoding the pick-up location into coordinates and assigning a vehicle) and then forwarded 14 through the cellular telephone network or Internet to the driver of the assigned vehicle. The driver of the assigned vehicle travels 16 to the rider's desired general goal location, then often communicates by phone or text or both with the rider 18 to learn or agree upon a precise goal location for the pick-up activity, which is a location that is often defined precisely and accurately. The driver of the vehicle then travels 20 to the rider's precise goal location and the rider is authenticated and enters the vehicle 22 which then proceeds to a destination 24.